


Draw Me Into the Corners of Your Heart

by kismet (alwayswaiting26)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Boys Kissing, M/M, Minor Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Mutual Pining, but like only a wee bit, i don't know what country this is set in, it's american high school but there are british words sometimes???, max george is in it for like two seconds, mostly liam being an insecure peanut, there is a lot of blushing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-01 22:01:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4036114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwayswaiting26/pseuds/kismet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam meets Zayn for the first time when they accidentally swap backpacks.</p><p>High school!au featuring gym class, best friends, flipbooks, and two shy boys trying to be brave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Draw Me Into the Corners of Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sundrowned](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sundrowned/gifts).



> This is my very first fic, I can't believe I'm actually publishing something eeeeee! 
> 
> First of all, I would like to thank the wonderful mods for putting this together. I had been thinking of writing for some time, but was never actually able to take the step to finish and publish anything, so this was just the push that I needed! I also want to thank everyone who is participating and making this a safe space for new writers (and experienced ones). :)
> 
> Thank you to Sundrowned for your prompts, I really hope you like it!
> 
> My handholder [Tori](http://gentleantics.tumblr.com/) was magnificent and helped me have more confidence in my writing. I couldn't have done it without your advice and support, and especially reminding me that I didn't have to reinvent the wheel, and that common tropes can still be fun and different.
> 
> I would also like to thank my beta [Sarah](http://louegg.tumblr.com/) for donating her time and kindly handling all my prodding. Your edits helped me take my writing to the final stage and I was happy to have your input! I hope to work with you more in the future. :*
> 
> I also want to thank one of my best friends [ lexiloves16](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lexiloves16/pseuds/lexiloves16) for jumping "in too deep" with me. We've been on this path for a hell of a long time, but you keep following me into doing stupid stuff for these stupid boys. Love you forever!
> 
> Written for the prompt Zayn/Liam hs!au

As soon as Liam’s eyes fell on the Marvel-themed backpack, he knew he had to have it. He was out shopping for school supplies just days before he started his junior year, and even though the price was a little steep, it was worth it. It was symbolic really, after his old backpack ripped at the seams at the end of last term.

The first two years of high school were rough, but the people who used to give him trouble just graduated and he was finally making progress in his boxing class, which was helping his confidence some small amount. New backpack, new school year, new Liam. At least he hoped.

Same friends though, he thought to himself as he spotted Niall and Harry over by the glue sticks. They’d spent the whole summer together, playing video games, swimming when it got too hot, and talking about girls (and boys).

When Liam turned up, new backpack in tow, they both looked at it for a second before snorting. Liam clutched the bag to his body defensively before saying, “What? I think it’s really cool.”

“We’re laughing more about how predictable you are, mate,” Niall responded. Liam relaxed his posture a little. He was used to people laughing at him, but had yet to fully adjust to the playful teasing of his friends.

They had all become close during their Algebra 2 class the previous year, suffering through homework packets and staying up late to study together before tests. After their last class of the year, Liam had been secretly delighted when Niall called him up for a kickabout at the park in between their two houses.

Even after spending the whole summer together he still got a little thrill when Niall or Harry asked him to come hang out. They celebrated his birthday together last week, a marked change from when no one had shown up to his party the year before. They had just ordered pizza and played laser tag, but it was still climbing the ranks as one of Liam’s favorite memories. Especially when he thought about the poorly wrapped but heartfelt gifts he had received from them both; sweet 16 it had indeed been.

Liam was pulled back to the present as Harry slung an arm over his shoulder and dragged him towards the register while chatting about a movie he just saw that Liam “had to see, man, it was amazing.”

Liam wasn’t particularly interested in the movie but he grinned and nodded along to Harry’s rambling. Niall trailed them both, seemingly caught up in a decision between two colors of mechanical pencil, but Liam knew that he was just avoiding Harry’s long story about this movie that they had both heard five times already this week. But Liam was always happy to humor Harry.

* * *

Liam took a deep breath and hesitated just a second before he took the final step through the main doors of his high school. The hallways were busy with the bustle of students making a concerted effort to get to class on time for the first day of school. 

Liam had English first period, which was definitely not his favorite, but he knew that Harry would be there, so at least he would have someone to sit by. After stopping at his locker, he made his way to the classroom, intercepting Harry on the way.

The day was uneventful as he trudged his way through history and maths, trying to keep his head down. No one had bothered him yet, but he was still cautious. Especially when he headed to gym where there were too many students for two teachers to be watching, particularly when left alone in the locker room.

Since it was the first day, they hadn’t been assigned lockers or PE kits yet, so Liam threw his backpack onto the growing pile sitting in front of the bleachers. “I’m sure it will be easy to find later,” Liam thought to himself, feeling a little smug about his recent purchase.

PE was actually one of his favorite subjects; it was one of the only things that he felt came easily to him. With most other classes he felt as though he had to work really hard to only do mediocre. But in PE he could finally be in the top of his class at something, and so he put his whole heart into it, in comparison to many of his peers.

He was helping pick basketballs up from the class period when he heard the bell and realized he was almost late for his next class. He jogged over to the much-diminished pile of bags and grabbed his Marvel pack before heading out.

He just barely made it to physics, a little out of breath, and slid into the seat that Niall had saved for him. As he started to get his stuff out for the period, he glanced down at the contents of the pack and realized it was filled with stuff that wasn’t his.

Niall must have seen the confused look on his face because he leaned over and whispered “Liam, mate, are you alright?” But Liam just kept staring at the backpack. He pulled it so he could see the front and, yep, the same Marvel characters were still staring back at him. Was someone playing a prank on him? It had been known to happen, but why would someone bother to switch out his notebooks for different notebooks? That didn’t seem particularly funny.

Finally Liam started rifling through the actual contents, finding some textbooks for classes he was in (luckily including a physics book), but a more-complicated looking English textbook and what looked like a sketchbook. Inside the sketchbook cover he saw the name Zayn Malik, but didn’t recognize it.  He shrugged and decided he should start paying attention to the teacher at some point and that the rest of the investigation would have to wait until later.

For now, he just grabbed a pen from the outer pocket, ripped a piece of paper out of one of the blank notebooks (feeling vaguely guilty about it), and opened the physics textbook to the page number written on the board.

* * *

 Zayn hated gym. _Hated_ it. If he wanted to run around, he would do so on his own time and without a huge group of his peers surrounding him. He always got so sweaty and then had to go to the rest of his classes like that, or he got yelled at for not trying hard enough. It was a truly uncomfortable experience.

That’s why, after the bell sounded for his first gym period to end, Zayn quickly snatched his bag from the pile and headed to his maths class.

Except when he got there, he realized that he had grabbed someone else’s backpack, because the notebooks were full of notes he hadn’t taken and there were books for classes he wasn’t in.

Zayn stared blankly at the bag for a while, hoping that maybe it would turn into his own sketchbook and school supplies, but when that didn’t work, he started poking around. The name Liam Payne was written inside a planner and there was a phone number in the contact section underneath. It’s a good thing that this guy was organized, Zayn thought to himself, not remembering if there was anything in his bag that even had his name on it.

Well, he would just text the number right now and let him know he had his bag. Except... he had forgotten to plug his phone in last night and it died while he was listening to music on the walk to school this morning, much to his irritation. He was going to charge it during lunch… but his charger was in his backpack.

Whatever, he would borrow his sister’s charger when he got home and text this guy then. They didn’t really have homework on the first day of class anyway so it’s not like he needed his stuff, although it was inconvenient.

* * *

Liam carried the backpack around for the rest of the school day, not knowing if he had any other classes with the person he had swapped with and not really knowing what else to do. He didn’t need his backpack immediately, per se, but he would feel much better having it back in his possession. But alas, there was nothing he could do until gym class tomorrow where he knew that this Zayn person would be for sure.

He sighed, because this certainly didn’t feel like a new year with a new Liam now that his new backpack was gone. Instead it felt like the same rotten luck from his first two years.

He walked home a tad dejectedly and was greeted by headlocks and attempts to ruffle his hair from his older sisters before he escaped to his room and flopped onto his bed.

He must have fallen asleep, worn out from the first day, because he woke up to the buzz of his mobile. He brought it close to his face, squinting in the light of the screen. There was a text from an unknown number, which was enough to wake him up a bit more. He only really texted Harry and Niall, and thought it would be one of them recapping the first day, so this was thoroughly unexpected. He swiped the screen to see the full message.

hey, this is Zayn, I think I might have grabbed your bag on accident? Is this liam?

Liam: yes this is liam, do u have gym 5th period?

Zayn: yeppp that’s me, sorry man I didn’t think that someone else would have the same bag as me.

Liam: Me either, didnt even notice until I was in my next class tbh

Zayn: well ur stuff is safe with me! aha we can trade back tmrw

Liam: sounds good, I’ll be the one with ur bag haha

Zayn: aha, see you then

Liam was glad that he’d get his stuff back, but the situation was still pretty weird. He sighed as he reminded himself that it wasn’t an excuse to not do his introductory reading, especially since Zayn had a copy of the textbook he needed.

He groaned internally but pulled the book out anyways. He was reviewing the intro quickly, which they had gone over in class, when he noticed a bunch of drawings up and down the sides of the page.

There were little soldiers next to the WWII outline, but mainly it was superheroes and other random faces and shapes. Sometimes there were little speech bubbles saying something silly, and there was even a tiny caricature of his teacher.

Did that mean Zayn was in this class as well? He was pretty sure Mr. Jones only taught one section… Liam turned his attention back to the drawings, unconsciously smiling as he noticed there was even a little flipbook on the bottom right hand corner of the page. This would definitely make his studying more interesting.

* * *

“Um, Zayn?” Zayn’s head snapped up at the sound of his name. He hadn’t recognized anyone in this class yesterday so he couldn’t imagine who it would be.

What he saw in front of him was an earnest looking boy glancing at his backpack every couple of seconds. With brown eyes and short-ish curly hair, he actually looked vaguely familiar, but Zayn couldn’t quite place him.

After ten seconds of silence Zayn finally responded “er, yeah?”

The boy flushed lightly before he continued, “I uh think that’s my bag?” Zayn just stared at him blankly before he rushed on, “I’m Liam. Liam Payne?”

Realization dawned on Zayn and his cheeks flushed to match the boy’s, he must have seen him in gym yesterday and that’s why he looked familiar. Liam was the kid who was taking freethrow practice pretty seriously and Zayn had vaguely admired his biceps from a distance. He looked down and saw Liam was holding an identical bag in front of him.

“Oh. Yeah! Sorry, I didn’t know we had history together as well so I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Yeah,” Liam said. “I noticed you had the same textbook and then I saw you here with the bag and I thought what are the odds there would be _another_ person that has the same backpack as both of us, so…”

“Right. Well here’s it back,” Zayn said. “I tried not to touch anything but I needed a couple of things to get through classes.”

“That’s fine, I did the same.”

They both had the right bags now and were left awkwardly looking at each other, neither sure if they were supposed to continue the conversation or not.

Luckily, they were saved by their history teacher getting the attention of the class at the front of the room and Liam returned to where he was sitting a couple of seats over and one back.

Zayn felt eyes on him a couple time but shrugged it off, assuming someone was just staring into space that he happened to currently occupy while the teacher droned on.

* * *

Liam never in his life expected Zayn to be that hot. In his mind, Zayn was an anonymous accidental backpack thief that made his life slightly more difficult, not a real person with a face like… well like _that_.

He caught himself staring at Zayn as the class progressed and had to wrench his eyes away and try to focus on what the teacher was saying. He wasn’t sure he could handle Zayn existing in two separate classes with him.

It wasn’t until he opened his own textbook that he realized he had forgotten to say how much he enjoyed Zayn’s drawings, and how they entertained him while he was struggling through the chapter. He decided he should say something when he saw him next, even though the thought filled him with a mild sort of terror.

* * *

It was the second day of gym class, and Zayn still hated it. They had stupid PE uniforms that he hated and there was a teacher blowing a whistle for them to line up to do sprints back and forth. Plus, there was now The Liam Factor. Liam was definitely cute, and in the gym shorts and t-shirt, you could see he was well-muscled, as young as he was. He looked like the type that actually “went to the gym” and “worked out,” Zayn thought bitterly while considering his own slim frame.

He was sure Liam wanted nothing to do with him, though. Who wanted to strike up a conversation with the guy who practically stole your stuff? Even if it was an accident.

Zayn sighed as he filed into one of the three lines. Sprinting was the worst; it made you so sweaty so quickly. However, when Liam lined up behind him after a couple rounds of sprints, he decided he might be able to make an exception.

“Hey, I really liked your drawings” Liam said.

Zayn shook himself out of his sweaty boy-induced daze and narrowed his eyes at Liam briefly.

Liam shifted foot-to-foot, looking uncomfortable. “Um, the ones in the history textbook? I was reviewing the intro last night and I saw them in the margins”

Even though Liam had said he liked them, Zayn still blushed fiercely. He never meant for anyone to actually see his silly little doodles. “Thanks, I guess,” he mumbled.

“No seriously, they helped me get through the reading last night. The flip book was ingenious, how did you even learn to do that?” Liam continued with a shy grin.

“You just have each figure move a tiny bit from the last one,” Zayn continued.

“That makes it seem easy, but I tried myself and it was hard to get the right amount of difference from the previous figure.”

“Yeah, just takes practice I guess, I’ve been doing it since I was a kid,” Zayn said while shrugging. He didn’t think it was so impressive.

“Maybe you could teach me sometime?” Liam asked, before blushing faintly and looking down at his shoes. “Only if you want to I mean, I didn’t mean to assume we would be hanging out or anything.”

“I don’t mind,” Zayn reassured.

“Who’s your favorite in the Marvel Universe then?” Zayn followed up to fill the silence.

Liam looked surprised and a bit puzzled before Zayn added, “you know because of the, uh, backpack thing.”

Liam’s eyes lit up at that and, before they knew it, they were off hotly debating the merits of different characters between sprints and discussing which supervillain they themselves would want to fight.

They were still chatting when they headed into the locker room, feeling much more at ease around each other. That is, until Louis came crashing into Zayn shouting indeterminately about something. Louis had the gym class right after Zayn’s and was already in the locker room.

“Who’s this then?” Louis asked, looking back and forth between Zayn and Liam. “I thought I was your only friend.”

“This is Liam,” Zayn introduced, before being cut off by Louis, who looked Liam over critically.

“Oh yeah, I think I had gym with you last year. Why are you always trying so hard in that class, mate? It’s the easiest A I’ve ever gotten.”

Just like that, a feeling of awkwardness descended as Liam tried to inch away, shame burning his neck. He looked at Zayn and Louis before mumbling something about getting changed and scurrying to a different area where his locker was.

“Loueh you scared him off,” Zayn said with a sigh, looking after Liam.

“Well if he can be scared off that easily by little old me then he deserves it,” Louis sniffed imperiously.

Zayn pushed him into some lockers as Louis cackled and then peeled off to get changed.

* * *

The next day in History class, Liam was staring straight ahead trying his best not to look in Zayn’s direction. He felt embarrassed over what happened yesterday, not to mention a bit cowardly for running off like that.

It had been great to talk with Zayn, once they got on a subject they were both passionate about, but approaching him had been draining.

Liam from last year would never have done that. He would have just let it lie and never spoken to him again. But this was _new_ Liam, and he had decided this was a step in the direction of who he wanted to be, so he told Zayn that he liked his drawings. Plus he really did want to learn how to draw his own flipbook.

As he was thinking about all of this and neglecting his history teacher’s lecture, he saw a piece of paper folded into a small airplane fly near him while the teacher’s back was turned.

He looked at it curiously as it landed a couple of feet away from him. His name was written in bold on one of the wings and he blushed as the girl in the desk one behind handed it to him.

He snuck a peek at Zayn and discovered he was looking at him. Zayn quickly looked away when he saw Liam look over, so Liam turned to the paper plane.

He carefully unfolded the paper and looked at the message inside. It said “sorry for Lou”, and had little cartoons of the superheroes Liam said were his favorite the day before.

Warmth spread through his body as he read and reread the note, and he glanced at Zayn again who was still staring straight ahead.

After class Zayn hurried out before Liam could catch him, and all he could do was watch his figure disappearing down the corridor. Maybe this was Zayn trying to be brave too, Liam thought to himself. Maybe if they both kept performing small acts of bravery, they would become friends. He didn’t dare hope for more, except for a small voice at the back of his mind that said a boyfriend would be nice. But first things first, he would try to talk to Zayn again in gym class.

* * *

Thinking of doing things was all well and good, but actually doing them was the difficult part. This is what Liam was contemplating as he stared at Zayn’s back trying to will himself to move forward.

Yesterday was easier because he had been able to rehearse what he would say and there were no expectations. He wasn’t used to trying to make friends, Niall and Harry just happened and before that there hadn’t been too many people, which made this all the scarier. Just as he was trying to gather the rest of his courage, Zayn turned around and started walking toward him.

Liam held his breath just a little bit as he approached, letting it out when Zayn stopped in front of him.

“Hey Liam,” Zayn said. “Just wanted to say sorry for Lou in person, he can be quite loud and overbearing sometimes, as much as I love him.”

“It’s alright, I know he didn’t mean anything by it,” Liam responded, even though he wasn’t sure he did know that.

“He’s harmless really, just a bit spiky,” Zayn tried to explain. “But anyways, I wanted to continue our conversation from yesterday so I can convince you of how wrong you are.”

Liam returned Zayn’s hesitant grin with a wobbly smile of his own before they fell back into conversation.

This time when they got to the locker rooms, Liam was proactive and made himself scarce before Louis appeared.

The next day Liam sat next to Zayn in history, his stomach a ball of nerves, but Zayn just smiled and starting showing him how to make a flipbook in his history textbook.

* * *

Halfway through the semester, Liam found himself with a history folder full of Zayn’s aimless doodles, scribbled on torn-off corners of notebook paper and the back of worksheets and study packets. He hadn’t meant to save them all, and felt a bit creepy when he thought about it for too long, but Zayn spent time making them so he stubbornly refused to throw any of them away.

He was having a study session over at Harry’s with Niall when some of the drawings fell onto the floor in full view of both his friends. He stared at them in horror for a second before scrambling to pick them up, but Harry and Niall grabbed them first.

“Oi, what’s this then Payno, have you taken up art?” Niall inquired curiously, looking at Zayn’s crumpled notes.

Liam said nothing in reply, just turned red in the face and looked at the floor. Harry and Niall exchanged a glance before prodding further.

“Whose are they then?” Harry asked.

“Um. No one’s. Just some guy I sit next to in History class,” Liam mumbled, still looking at the floor.

“There are kind of a lot for them to be ‘just some guy’,” Niall teased. “Do you _liiiiiiiike_ him? Is that why you’ve kept all these?”

That got Liam’s attention. “What! No, I don’t like him…he’s just…he’s--” Liam spluttered.

“Mmhmm. Sure you don’t. What’s his name then?” Harry asked.

“Zayn…” Liam said, almost too quiet to be heard.

“You definitely like him!” Niall crowed. “This is amazing, we have to get you together!”

“Okay, I like him a little bit,” Liam deferred. “But I’m pretty sure he has no interest in me, so there’s no point. I’m happy to just be his friend.”

Harry and Niall exchanged another look, silently agreeing to talk about this later.

“Alright fine, but can we meet him?” Niall asked.

Liam was surprised that they hadn’t pushed him further. “Yeah, I guess.” he said. “I only see him in History and Gym, it’s not like we’re hanging outside of class.”

“Well, invite him to eat with us at lunch or something!” Niall demanded.

“I guess I could do that…”

“Excellent!” Harry clapped, before changing the subject back to their mountain of schoolwork.

* * *

Zayn was pretty happy with how things had been progressing with Liam. He could see that he was coming out of his shell more, with easier smiles and a sort of sly humor that you didn’t expect out of him. On the whole, Zayn was thoroughly enjoying his company, and felt himself getting more comfortable with the boy as each day went by.

He was still totally caught off guard when Liam invited him to eat lunch with his other friends. Liam stuttered his way through it and made a lot of comments about not feeling obligated before Zayn cut him off with a definitive yes.

That had been first period and now Zayn was starting to feel nerves bubble in his stomach. He quickly decided that he desperately needed to find Louis to convince him to come along. Luckily they had the next class together and Louis didn’t seem too alarmed when Zayn grabbed his arm and dragged him to their usual seats in the back of the classroom.

Once he saw how nervous his friend was, Louis focused all of his attention on Zayn.

“Louis, I need you to come with me to lunch today,” Zayn said.

Louis cracked a smile. “Zayn, I go to lunch with you every day.”

“Yes, but today we are eating somewhere else with different people,” Zayn explained hurriedly, wanting to avoid as many of Louis’ questions as possible.

“Why?” Louis asked. “I mean, it’s fine, I won’t say no to meeting new people, but what brought this on specifically? Usually I have to drag you to see people you’ve known for years.”

Zayn mumbled something Louis couldn’t quite make out, “Sorry mate you’re going to have to speak up.”

“Liam asked me to come and eat with him and his friends,” Zayn said, a little louder.

Louis started cackling, “Oh did he now? Well he seems to have more balls than I expected. Does this mean you’ll allow me to meet him properly? I know you’ve been keeping me away from him.”

“Yes, you can meet him, but you need to promise not to be a dick,” Zayn sighed, thinking back to the one brief encounter between Liam and Louis. 

“Hmm, yes, he does seem a bit skittish, that one,” Louis smiled. “But once he sees that the Tommo way is the best way, everything will be straightened out.”

The thought crossed Zayn’s mind that this might not be the best idea, but he knew he couldn’t go into this situation without backup so he put it out of his mind.

* * *

Liam tapped the table in a nervous rhythm and swiveled his head to look for Zayn. Harry and Niall looked on in amusement, not bothering to wait before they started eating. Finally Liam spotted Zayn making his way over to their table and gave him a little wave. Zayn’s face lit up and he gave a wave back. It was then that Liam noticed Louis trailing behind him, and his stomach clenched with nerves again.

He didn’t quite know what to do with Louis, he was loud and did theater and seemed so much braver than Liam could ever hope to be. But he was Zayn’s friend so Liam would try his hardest.

Niall leaned over to Liam and whispered, “Is that him, mate? His face is amazing.”  
  
Liam just whispered back a quiet “I know,” right as Zayn arrived at their table.

Liam gave both boys a shy smile and introduced Harry and Niall, at which point Zayn introduced Louis.

“Harold!” Louis exclaimed. “I didn’t know you were friends with this lot, what a pleasant surprise.” He then scooched his way in between Harry and Niall, leaving Zayn and Liam to sit next to each other.  
  
Niall only laughed and Harry turned a bit pink before responding, “Likewise Lou. It’s good to see you outside of stage craft class.”

It seemed as though the two were already friends, and Niall could talk to anybody, so Liam turned his attention to Zayn.

“Hi,” he said shyly.

“Hi Liam,” Zayn said. “Sorry for springing another person on you, he attached himself to me five years ago and hasn’t let go since.”

“Oi!” Louis protested with a frown. “I am a delight, Zayn Malik, and I won’t hear you slandering my good name. Besides, I had to check out the boy that’s been stealing all your attention.” He waggled his eyebrows at Liam.

Zayn appeared to kick Louis under the table, but Louis just grinned and leaned toward Liam.

“So, Liam,” Louis said. “Tell me something about yourself other than the fact that you really like gym class.”

Liam felt like there was a spotlight on him. “Uh. I like to sing?” Why had he just said that? He felt so stupid. Zayn was looking at him curiously, since he hadn’t been aware of that little fact.

Louis barreled on, teasing, “You’ll have to do better than that Payne. I’ll have you know that Zayn deserves only the best and I’m not convinced you’re good enough for him.”

But it didn’t feel like teasing to Liam. He already knew that he wasn’t good enough, couldn’t even consider dating someone like Zayn. He looked at his plate so Louis wouldn’t see how much the words hurt him. Harry and Niall were looking back and forth between their friend and each other.

Zayn said a warning “Lou”, but Louis concluded, “You’re going to have a lot of work to do if you want to live up to my standards.”

Liam felt the air leave his lungs and he was blinking back tears. He knew that he had a long way to go until he became the person he wanted to be, a person like Louis, who could unabashedly express himself and be confident. But it felt like all the small steps that he had been congratulating himself for were trivial. He really wasn’t good enough for Zayn and he couldn’t believe he had ever entertained the thought that maybe he would want to be his boyfriend.

“Yeah, I’ll work on that,” Liam mumbled while standing up and grabbing his stuff. “I forgot there was a thing I have to do for class, I’ll see you guys later,” Liam threw over his shoulder while he hurried away from the table, refusing to look back at the expressions on the faces of those he left at the table.

* * *

Louis sat gaping at Liam’s retreating back, while Harry and Niall watched with resignation and Zayn, frustration.

“What the fuck was that Louis?” Zayn turned to say after Liam let the cafeteria door close behind him.

Louis continued to stare at the spot Liam had just vacated. “But…I was just joking! I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Harry looked at him before speaking quietly but firmly. “It doesn’t matter if you were joking Louis. What you said was not on.”

“But I was just trying to protect Zayn!” Louis protested. “Make sure Liam knew not to mess around with him.”

“Listen Louis, Liam would probably kill us if he knew we were telling you this, but he was bullied a lot during the first two years of school,” Niall explained. “He doesn’t have a lot of confidence because of it. He’s definitely getting better, especially with how he’s talking to other people and all,” he motioned towards Zayn, “but you pretty much found his biggest weakness and started poking at it. He can’t always tell when people are joking, even us.”

Louis’ face looked stunned and mildly horrified. “But…I truly didn’t mean it,” he whispered to himself. “Oh, bugger,” He exclaimed then grabbed all his stuff and ran out of the room after Liam.

Zayn, Harry and Niall were left sitting together at the table, all feeling mildly uncomfortable. Harry and Niall were still worried about their friend, but had learned it was best to let him be by himself a little. After school they would force him into a cuddle pile and put on Toy Story, but this was a golden opportunity. They both turned to look at Zayn, who became nervous under their scrutiny.

“So Zayn,” Harry started. “Do you like boys?”

Niall smacked him a little and hissed, “You were supposed to be subtle, knobhead”

“Heyyyyyy,” Harry whined, rubbing the back of his head.

Zayn looked at them with wide eyes but eventually replied, “Um, yes. Boys are, um, good.”

“Excellent!” Harry grinned at him. “And what about Liam, do you like Liam?”

Zayn coughed a bit and flushed, looking away, which seemed to satisfy Harry. Niall could see Zayn was uncomfortable so he changed the subject to Zayn’s art and the tension at the table eased.

* * *

On the other side of the school, Louis was searching for Liam. He thought he saw him going this way… yes! There he was. Louis caught up to him just as Liam tripped over someone’s outstretched foot. As Liam’s bag and papers went flying, Louis turned to the owner of the foot and shoved him.

“What the fuck was that, Max.” Louis spat. “Fuck off.”  
  
Max George responded by sneering in a way that made Louis’ blood boil. He stepped very close to him and said, “Listen Maxie. If you don’t leave this kid alone, I swear I will make your life very difficult. Think about all the things I know about you, particularly regarding last summer when you were with your best friend’s girl in the pool shed…” Max paled and stumbled away, his friends following.

Louis then turned his attention to a downtrodden Liam, who was scrambling to collect all his papers and anything that had rolled out of his bag. Louis crouched down beside Liam and helped him gather everything. Liam glanced at him but quickly averted his eyes when he saw Louis looking.

“Listen, Liam,” Louis started as they stood up and he handed Liam his papers. “I’m sorry about what I said back there. I meant it as a joke.”  
  
 He pulled Liam’s arm and led him to a bench. “I know Zayn really likes you, and I’ve always been protective over him. I guess that’s what happens when you’re an older brother to six siblings.” Louis gave a small wry smile. “But I shouldn’t have put you down like that, I don’t even know you. Can we start over as friends?”

Liam looked at him and gave a small smile before he said, “I could always use a new friend.”

Louis grinned and slung an arm around his neck as the bell rang before walking him to his next class, chattering the whole way there.

* * *

After that day, the five of them grew very close. Louis sometimes stole Liam away for their own private lunches, much to the annoyance of Zayn, but Louis just stuck his nose in the air and told Zayn he should be happy that they were bonding. On Liam’s part, he was thrilled to have Louis’ attention. He became much more relaxed around him, starting to joke and getting used to the way Louis was. This delighted Louis, who now brought him along for practical jokes, finding that Liam had a wicked sense of humor under his shy exterior.

Harry and Niall were happy to see their friend happy, and were also glad to gain two new friends. Harry would occasionally be caught staring at Louis for a little longer than was normal, but that was neither here nor there.

Liam and Zayn still spent History and gym together, but they also started seeing each other a lot outside of school. It started when Liam invited Zayn to come see his comic collection after a heated debate about one specific issue that Liam happened to own. Zayn agreed without a second thought, it seemed like a natural progression of their friendship. Sometimes the rest of the boys were there too, but more often it was just Liam and Zayn, laying around and reading, doing homework, or watching movies.

The other boys saw that their friends were getting closer, and sometimes had whispered meetings about “Project Ziam,” as Harry deemed it. Before they knew it, Niall and Louis were calling it that too, much to their chagrin. But it seemed to make Harry happy so they submitted.

Zayn and Liam themselves remained oblivious to the extra attention their friends gave them when they interacted, often caught up in their own world. Even their families started to notice that, more often than not, they would have two teenage boys for dinner or none if they were at the other house. Their mothers took it in stride, giving them knowing looks that rolled off the boys’ backs.

On Liam’s part, his secret feelings for Zayn just got worse. When they were together, he felt like someone really understood him for the first time. He loved Harry and Niall to pieces, but they seemed to accept his passion for comic books and his other interests rather than share them. But Zayn always knew exactly what he was talking about, like they were on the same wavelength, and they would often crack up at a shared joke that no one else at the table understood.

Zayn wasn’t faring too well either, alarmed at how fast he had grown close to Liam. Usually it took him much longer to open up, but this boy was so genuine that he felt he didn’t need to put up his usual walls. He tried to ignore his growing feelings, but when he found himself absently drawing Liam’s jawline in his sketchbook he realized it was useless. But never did he consider that Liam might return his feelings.

* * *

All five of them were sitting together at lunch talking about their fast-approaching pre-winter break exams when Louis interrupted with an announcement.

“Lads,” he said. “I’ve decided we should have a holiday gift exchange get-together before Christmas.”

They all looked at him for a second before shrugging.

“Fine with me,” Niall responded, but Louis wasn’t finished yet.

“I think, though, that we should team up and get each person something nice, instead of getting four different presents for every person.”

Zayn could tell that Louis was a little uncomfortable putting this suggestion forth, and knew it was because he didn’t have the most money to spend on gifts for the boys, especially with the size of his family.

This caused Zayn to jump in, “I think that’s a great idea. So we like pool the money we would have spent on each person together to buy one great gift for them instead of getting four smaller gifts.”

Louis shot Zayn a grateful look before Niall clapped him on the back with approval. Liam watched the exchange between Zayn and Louis somewhat curiously, but he had to admit he did like this idea. If they could all agree on what to buy each other that is. And they’d have to somehow meet in all possible combinations of four to keep the present a secret.

* * *

Somehow, they pulled it off and were now sitting in a circle with an air of anticipation filling the room. They had been drinking eggnog with a bit of rum that Louis scavenged, but it was clear that they were still uncertain about their gift choices.

Of course they needn’t have worried.

Zayn was delighted with all the art supplies he received, especially the spray paint, which he had mentioned being interested in trying out, but hadn’t gotten around to purchasing.

Louis got a slightly more expensive present since it was counting as Christmas and his birthday. The boys got him a Man U jersey that he immediately put on and refused to take off for the rest of the evening.

For Niall there were guitar strings and a book with the chord progressions of the most recent pop songs. He had been watching Youtube videos thus far and couldn’t wait to try out an actual reference book. He had his eye on Baby by Justin Bieber already.

Harry received cookbooks and a cupcake decorating kit that made him beam, saying that he would be able to practice at home now and maybe get good enough to do some for the bakery that he worked in.

Liam took one look at the batman pajama pants and smiled at the thoughtfulness of his new friends. They also included the most recent Avengers movie on DVD, which they ended up watching after everybody had their presents.

Liam was sat between Zayn and Harry, all of them squished onto one couch, and all he could think of was how lucky he was to have these friends around him and how much his life had changed in the past year and a half.

* * *

The boys all dozed off on each other sometime during the night and Liam woke up quite warm but desperately needing to pee. He looked down at Zayn, asleep on his shoulder, and gently tried to extricate himself from the puppy pile they had formed.

He thought he was successful until he heard a croak of “Leem?” coming from Zayn. Liam shushed him and said he was just going to the bathroom.

When he came back Zayn was stretching sleepily and slowly drawing himself out from underneath Niall. They both padded into the kitchen and Liam flipped the kettle on for a cup of tea. They spent time enjoying each other’s presence, sipping their tea and quietly chatting. When they were a little more awake, Zayn said, “Oh, hey. Wait here a sec, I’ll be right back.”

Liam looked after him curiously as he disappeared into the other room and came back holding a folder.  Zayn looked slightly nervous and Liam was intrigued.

“I was going to wait until closer to actual Christmas to give this to you,” Zayn said. “But now seemed as good a time as any.” Liam started to protest because he hadn’t gotten anything for Zayn and that didn’t seem fair.

“Shut up Liam, it’s fine. It’s just something silly that I was working on in my free time,” Zayn blushed before getting something out of the folder and handing it over to him.

Liam looked down at what was in his hands and gave a tiny gasp. It was a small pile of papers, maybe 3 or 4 sheets tall. On the top of the pile was a drawing of one of Liam’s favorite photos of all five of them from when they had hung out for the first time. He flipped to the next page and saw a more cartoon style drawing of them all as superheroes with a mini plot about them fighting crime in their high school crossing several panels. The last picture was just a drawing of Liam’s face, eyes crinkled up into a genuine smile. It was obvious Zayn had spent a lot more time on this than he was letting on.

Liam still hadn’t said anything, causing Zayn to rush to fill the silence, “It’s nothing, you know, just I remember how you liked that picture of all of us and I thought you would like it? I don’t know it was stupid maybe.”

Liam finally snapped out of his daze and maybe he was still a little sleep hazy and overwhelmed by what this meant to him, but he stepped forward and took Zayn’s face in his hands and kissed him. Zayn froze a little before he started kissing him back hesitantly. But Liam didn’t register that and instead seemed to come back to himself all at once, letting his hands fall from Zayn’s face.

“Oh god. I can’t believe I…” Liam trailed off, hands to his lips. His eyes started to fill with panic and he took a step back from Zayn, just staring at the dumbstruck expression on Zayn’s face. In Zayn’s defense, he really had never suspected that his kind and sweet new friend could ever like him the way that Zayn liked him, so this really was a stunning turn of events.

Liam’s stomach filled with lead and he took another step back before saying a rushed, “I’m so sorry Zayn. So sorry,” and taking off. He managed to grab the present on the way out, and luckily his bag was right by the door. He hopped on the bike that was propped up in the driveway, quickly swinging his leg over and tearing onto the street.

The whole bike ride home Liam tried not to cry as he mentally beat himself up for ruining the best thing in his life, just as things were starting to look up. He knew Zayn wasn’t homophobic, but that didn’t mean he would be okay with a friend just up and kissing him. He had obviously made him uncomfortable and now they would never be able to hang out all together again and Harry and Niall would start to resent him for ruining their friendship and Louis would surely hate him and he would be back to having no friends at all.

When he got home, he threw his bike on the grass, unlocked the front door, and ran up the stairs past his mum’s confused questions about why he was home at eight in the morning. And finally, with the door firmly closed and locked behind him, he let himself fall onto his bed and cry.

* * *

Zayn was still standing in the same spot in the kitchen when Louis walked in a couple minutes later.

“Where did Liam run off to? Was that him on the bike I just saw?” He questioned as he rubbed his eyes. That’s when he noticed Zayn’s state of shock and, immediately concerned, came over and put his arm on Zayn’s shoulder.

That’s all it took for Zayn’s face to crumple, causing Louis to wrap his arms around him.

“Hey Zayn, it’s alright,” Louis said softly. “What happened? Did Liam do something? Do you need me to beat him up?”

Zayn took a deep breath and pushed his face into Louis’ shoulder. “He kissed me,” he mumbled, mouth full of fabric.

Louis, of course, was used to Zayn mumble-speak so he understood. “He _what_?” He shrilled before he gained control of himself again, “Well then. Isn’t that good news?”

“Might’ve been if he hadn’t run away afterwards,” Zayn mumbled miserably.

At that moment Niall and Harry both emerged from the living room trying to get the cricks out of their necks. They stopped short when they saw Louis and Zayn embracing in the middle of the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked. “And where is Liam?” he swiveled his head to see if he had just missed him somewhere but no, he was nowhere to be found.

“Liam kissed Zayn and then fucked off,” Louis said harshly as he drew Zayn closer into his body, as if trying to shield him from everything.

The boys then convened a meeting around the kitchen table while Louis bustled about making tea, mostly because he refused to let anyone else make his tea.

“Maybe he was having some sort of gay freak out,” Zayn mumbled. Harry snorted in response to that, drawing Zayn and Louis’ attention.

“No way,” Harry stated simply. “He’s known he likes boys since before we met him.”

Niall then took a turn, “Listen Zayn, Liam is bad at expressing his feelings. I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding of some sort. You know how self-conscious he is.”

And Zayn did know. But that didn’t change the fact that Liam had hurt him and made him feel like a mistake.

“Maybe some space is what we need for a little while,” Zayn replied. “It is winter break.”

Harry and Niall eyed each other skeptically, but they didn’t want to force their friend into anything.

“Well, I think it’s about time that we had a chat with our boy. I’m sure Louis will take good care of you. I’m sorry this happened the way it did though,” Niall said while standing to get his stuff.

Zayn got up and gave them hugs before they walked out the door, leaving Louis and Zayn alone sipping their tea.

“I really like him, Lou,” Zayn whispered. “More than anyone.”

“I know Zayn, you just have to wait for him to come to his senses. Who wouldn’t love a face like this?” Louis asked while smushing his cheeks.

Zayn cracked a small smile, allowing himself to be drawn into a gentle headlock that turned into more of a cuddle than anything.

* * *

Liam fell into an exhausted sleep after crying, waking only when he heard a soft knock on his door. He turned his head and saw Niall and Harry both looking at him apprehensively from the doorframe.

He buried his head into his pillow, which they took as a sign to come in and sit on the edge of his bed. His friends being careful with him made Liam feel even worse, because it meant that things really were messed up.

“What happened Leemo?” Niall finally asked into the silence.

Liam took a second before he turned over, “I fucked up. I thought I had it all under control, but then I kissed Zayn.”

“I don’t see why that’s a bad thing? You’ve liked him almost since you’ve known him, this should be a step in the right direction,” Harry gently responded.

“You didn’t see his face Harry,” Liam said. “It was clearly a surprise, and not a good one.”

“I think you’re interpreting it wrong, he didn’t look upset when we were with him, well he looked upset but not because he was kissed by a dude,” Niall followed up.

“Can we just not talk about it for a little while?” Liam asked in a small voice. “I already feel stupid enough.”

Niall sighed before he flopped his body onto Liam’s, closely followed by Harry.

“Fine, have it your way but I think you’re making a mistake.”

* * *

After that Liam cut off all communication with Zayn. It was winter break, so other than his family’s questions about when they would see his friend next, it wasn’t all that difficult.

Especially since Zayn himself wasn’t making any effort to reach out. There was also a notable radio silence from Louis, but that was to be expected.

Liam focused all of his attention on his family and their new puppy Brit, but everyone noticed him being mopier than usual.

When no one was around he would pull out the pages that Zayn drew him and carefully run his fingers over the lines so he wouldn’t smudge them.

The thing was, he missed Zayn. Even though they had only known each other for a couple of months, they had become close friends. Liam could almost picture his tongue-behind-the-teeth smile and how it was his fault that Zayn wouldn’t make that face around him anymore.

Even if he did see Zayn, he couldn’t stand if it was awkward, or even worse, if Zayn pitied him and his stupid little crush.

Liam spent a lot of time thinking about Zayn, but a couple of miles away Zayn was doing his own thinking.

He, too, was missing his new friend and the connection that they shared. He also missed Niall and Harry, who he had only seen once since “the incident.” The three boys caught in the middle felt like they had to pick a side, even though no one would be mad if they didn’t.

But most of his thoughts surrounded Liam. Now that some of the hurt had worn off, he was more confused than anything.

Harry said that Liam was definitely gay, so he wasn’t sure what caused him to react that way when kissing Zayn. Maybe he had sensed Zayn’s crush and thought he could make himself like Zayn if he kissed him, which obviously didn’t work at all.

But that didn’t seem quite right in his head. Liam had looked so scared afterwards, did he think Zayn was homophobic? That would be ironic, but it was true that he never told Liam outright that he liked both boys and girls, and that lately it was mostly just liked Liam.

He spent a lot of time puzzling over it, but what seemed clearest was that Liam needed some space and time to figure himself out. If he decided afterwards that he didn’t want Zayn in his life, so be it. It would hurt like hell, but so did this awkward limbo.

* * *

Louis and Harry were scheming. They had their heads pressed together in a coffee shop between their houses, and were whispering plans back and forth for how to get their two best friends to realize their love.

It was clear to them that both Liam and Zayn really liked each other, but believed that the other didn’t feel the same way, leading to this whole debacle of mixed signals and hurt feelings.

It simply would not do. Louis missed all five of them hanging out together, and mentioned something about it to Harry when they were checking in on how the other side was doing. Which led them to this moment, crafting more and more ridiculous scenarios in which their two friends admitted their love to one another.

In the end, though, Louis and Harry decided that simple would be the best and most effective route, especially since their friends were so shy.

* * *

At the same time as they were deciding this, Liam was deciding something of his own. After a good amount of time wallowing in his own stupidity, he reflected seriously about his actions.

The way that he had behaved belonged firmly in the Old Liam category. He ran away after kissing Zayn, and that wasn’t part of the plan for a brave new attitude this year. He had only just made new friends and he decided he had to put in the effort to be brave and take the next step.

He grabbed some sheets off his desk and started drawing with a newfound determination. Winter break would be over soon and he needed to finish this before then, he just couldn’t handle passing Zayn in the hallways at school and being blanked or having to pretend like this wasn’t what was occupying most of his mind.

* * *

Zayn was lying on his bed when he heard his eldest sister call up the stairs for him, saying he had a visitor. He was expecting Louis, since they were going to a party together. His friend had said they would meet at the house, but he had also been known to show up to ensure that Zayn would come. He was thus thrown completely off-kilter when Liam was the one standing in the doorway to his room.

He looked a little sweaty and was clearly nervous, but there was also determination on his face.

Zayn stared at him for a couple of seconds before jumping off his bed and saying, “Come in.” Liam took a step forward and shut the door behind him.

Zayn then noticed some paper clutched tightly between Liam’s fingers. Liam saw him looking and extended the paper to him.

He took it and looked down, and what he saw before him was a little flipbook. They were just basic stick figures but it was clear that it was supposed to be himself and Liam, with their little backpacks switching back and forth.

Zayn stared at it, flipping through the story several times before turning his gaze to Liam who was standing there watching him.

Liam clenched his fist before he started to speak. “Zayn,” his voice cracked and he had to clear his throat before continuing. “Zayn, first of all I want to say I’m sorry.” Zayn wasn’t sure which part he was apologizing for so he just gave him a look that said ‘go on.’

“I’m sorry for kissing you and running away. Not as much for the kissing as the running away, but a little bit for the kissing because I’m sure you didn’t want to kiss me and it wasn’t very polite to do it out of the blue like that, plus I don’t even know if you like boys.”

Zayn was stunned, but Liam just took a deep breath before continuing, “I really like you and I’m sorry if that makes things awkward and I will totally understand if you don’t want to hang out anymore, but I really hope that we can find a way to still be friends. I promise I won’t make it weird.”

Zayn was still staring at him, his brain only just catching up to the fact that Liam just said that he liked him. He looked down at the flipbook in his hands and then back at Liam and slowly started advancing towards him.

Liam was growing more apprehensive in the silence, and why was Zayn moving? Was he going to leave the room in disgust, never to talk to Liam again? Was he going to hit him? Liam seriously doubted either of these things would happen, but his nerves were causing his mind to race through all the worst-case scenarios.

Instead of any of these things, however, Zayn stopped directly in front of Liam, moving his hand up to cup Liam’s jaw before leaning in to gently kiss his lips. It was a sweet kiss that didn’t last long, but it still sent Liam reeling.

In all the possible ways he saw this going, he never considered this outcome. Zayn gently rested his forehead on Liam’s, before saying, “Liam, you absolute donut.”

Liam giggled at this, elated although still very confused. Zayn continued, “I can’t believe you ran away after you kissed me. I thought you changed your mind or you knew I liked you but then realized you made a horrible mistake.”

Liam drew back with a horrified expression on his face. “You thought what? Zayn, absolutely not. I thought there was no way you could possibly like me and I couldn’t bear to stand there while you let me down easy and then we drifted apart, never to speak again.”

“So preemptively starting the silence was how you avoided that?” Zayn asked with one eyebrow raised, his stern words mitigated by the fact that his hands were still holding Liam’s face and his eyes were soft.

Liam looked sheepishly at the ground before saying, “I was scared. I didn’t want to lose you, even though running away just made it more likely.”

“You would have never lost me,” Zayn replied. “I would have still followed you around gym class, and sat next to you in history. I’m not that easy to get rid of.”

“Well I didn’t know that,” Liam huffed a bit.

Zayn laughed and then kissed Liam again, now that he knew that he could. Liam responded instantly and with enthusiasm.

Eventually they drew apart and just held each other in an embrace. Zayn’s mobile buzzing eventually broke them apart, both sighing regretfully. Zayn looked at the screen and saw the name ‘Tommo’ before he answered.

Louis’ voice seemed loud after the quiet of the confessions that had fallen from their lips. “Zayn, my boy, I’m calling to remind you about the party, you are definitely not getting out of this one. I would pick you up myself but they asked me to help set up, lazy gits.”

Zayn mumbled assurances before hanging up. He turned to Liam, who was watching him with a content smile on his face. Zayn sighed and let Liam know that he had something he had to do that night.

“That’s alright, I need to get going anyways, Harry is dragging me to a party tonight too, some friend of Niall’s or something. We can talk more later, we have time.” Liam said with a soft smile. He stepped towards Zayn for a last kiss, which turned into several before they finally parted.

Liam left the room, went downstairs, and hopped on his bike, beaming the whole ride home.

* * *

Louis and Harry had come up with the perfect scheme to get their friends back together. They would lure them both to the party, shut them in the laundry room, wouldn’t be allowed out until they made up.

They invited Liam and Zayn separately so the two wouldn’t suspect their clever scheme, using a party being thrown by a friend of Niall’s so it was plausible for both of them to come.

They were all tired of their friends moping and being unhappy, so the group got together and figured this was the way to handle it.

The party was in full swing by the time Liam arrived with Harry. Usually he was the type to be almost early for a party, but he was showing his protest at being there by arriving at a normal time, towed along by Harry who had gone to his house to pick him up.

Zayn, true to fashion, arrived late. The party was by no means winding down, but Louis started to get nervous that he wouldn’t show, even after he called. It had been known to happen, and he couldn’t afford to have his plans ruined if Zayn was simply asleep in his room.

Just as he was about to head to Zayn’s house himself, the boy in question showed up. Slouching through the crowd of people towards him. Louis directed him towards the kitchen to get a drink before frantically texting Harry that the plan was in motion.

Harry found Liam where he left him with Niall and gave the latter a meaningful look. Niall picked up on it and they collectively started herding Liam towards the laundry room.

Louis found Zayn, drink in hand and grabbed him, guiding him to the meeting spot.

In a matter of seconds, Louis, Harry, and Niall succeeded in shoving the two of them into the laundry room, seeing both of their startled faces before they shut and barricaded the exit. They then immediately put their ears against the door.

They hadn’t been quite sure what to expect, but unrestrained laughter was not on any of their lists.

Looking at each other, then back at where laughter was pouring out of the cracks of the door, the three boys opened it carefully with baffled looks on their faces.

What they saw was Liam and Zayn wiping the tears of laughter from their eyes. Their two friends calmed down and looked at the conspirators still beaming.

Louis, Niall and Harry were still stuck in place, very confused.

Finally Zayn spoke, “Liam came to see me earlier today, we already made up.” He then shyly took Liam’s hand, blushing and looking at the floor as his wide grin settled into something smaller and more private.

Liam blushed too, but looked incredibly proud to have Zayn’s hand in his.

As the words sunk in, their friends shook off their confusion and whooped loudly before throwing themselves at Zayn and Liam, ending up on the floor in a pile of moving limbs and clamoring words.

“Why didn’t you tell me right after it happened, dickhead!” That was Louis.

“We had _so much_ time together before we got here Liam you could have said something!” Chimed in Harry.

“Weyheyyyyy!” Niall shouted in general happiness and excitement.

After calming down they all sat up, still slightly entangled, and looked at each other fondly.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say that I am glad you got your shit together,” Niall said.

“We definitely are too,” replied Zayn with a grin.

Liam was still overwhelmed by it all, but couldn’t help thinking that this was the start of a new chapter. It was now the middle of the school year, but still, new Liam, new backpack, new boyfriend. Things were really looking up. 


End file.
